"CBS and the other docuseries’ defendants have recently moved to dismiss Burke’s complaint on essentially the same basis that Dr. Spitz did previously, contending that their accusation against Burke is protected opinion when taken in context," notes the Atlanta-based Wood, corresponding via e-mail. "In both instances, the defense asserts, as it must, that no reasonable mind could have taken the accusation to be one of fact rather than a mere subjective opinion or hypothesis."
Wood feels otherwise.

"CBS — one of the most well-known news outlets in the world — put up seven 'experts' in a four-hour 'documentary' and marketed their 'true-crime' series as giving one 'complete theory' that 'solved' the case, all the while representing the series as a documentary," he maintains.

Specifically, Spitz and the other panelists on the program, titled The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey, concluded that Burke killed his sister with a blow to the head. The following image from the docuseries captures a reenactment; Spitz is seen at left.Dr. Werner Spitz, left, watches as a child is called upon to act out a theory of how Burke Ramsey could have killed his sister, JonBenét, from the CBS program The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey.

In Wood's view, "It is difficult to understand how, in that context, the accusation against Burke could have been intended and received as anything but a factual accusation. And that is clearly what the viewer expected — a truthful and factual 'documentary' providing insight into this case."

Instead, as the lawsuit alleges, "CBS and the others consciously portrayed false, skewed and misrepresentative facts and recreations throughout the broadcast that stole from the viewers their ability to evaluate the murder of JonBenét Ramsey and CBS’s accusation against Burke," Wood allows. "For this reason, and the issue of objective fact or subjective opinion aside, I do not believe the First Amendment protects statements that are based on a false disclosed basis or an undisclosed and incomplete basis."

Wood also provides an update on the Spitz suit, which was filed in Michigan.

"We had a hearing...in Detroit on the defense’s motion to dismiss the case," he notes. "Interestingly, despite the defense having provided to the court a DVD of CBS’ documentary and stating it was 'central' to their opinion defense, Dr. Spitz never provided to the court a copy of his WWJ radio interview wherein he made the statements complained of in the lawsuit. When the court requested a copy at the hearing, it appeared to my team that his lawyers were reluctant to provide it to the court."

Nonetheless, Wood goes on, "that radio broadcast will be provided to the court and to me.... So we will know more about the context in which Dr. Spitz uttered his accusations against this young man in short order."
Click to read excerpts of Spitz's remarks.

"As paradoxical as it may seem in light of the many exonerations of Burke by several public officials, Burke will continue his quest to prove his innocence in a court of law," he writes. "We do not expect the court to deny him that opportunity by ruling that these accusations are protected speech."

John Ramsey, father of JonBenét Ramsey, who was murdered in her Boulder home on Christmas Day 1996, has filed a $350 million lawsuit against CBS and assorted individuals associated with The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey, a 2016 docuseries in which a panel of experts concluded that Burke Ramsey, JonBenét's brother, killed his sister with a blow to the head. In an interview on view below, Atlanta-based attorney Lin Wood, who also represents Burke in a similar complaint filed late last year, maintains that the suit isn't specifically intended to prevent news organizations from making such claims in the future, but he's fine if it has that effect.
"It is certainly my hope for the family that news and entertainment organizations will recognize that Burke and John will not allow publication of these false and defamatory accusations to occur without aggressively pursuing legal remedies," notes Wood, corresponding via email.

The John Ramsey suit was actually filed last month but was only brought to light this week via reporting by the Boulder Daily Camera. In its piece, the Camera stated that the complaint was "not immediately available." However, we've obtained a copy, as well as a document of exhibits in the case. They're accessible below.
CBS is not the only defendant in the matter. Also named are Critical Content, the company that produced the docuseries, as well as Jim Clemente, Laura Richards, Stanley Burke, Werner Spitz (the target of a separate Burke lawsuit), James Fitzgerald, Henry Lee and James Kolar, who served as so-called "investigators" on the program. Kolar also wrote Foreign Faction, a book about the JonBenét slaying that the suit portrays as the blueprint for the show.

"CBS perpetrated a fraud upon the public," a passage from the complaint reads. "Instead of being a documentary based on a new and legitimate investigation by a team of qualified and unbiased experts, The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey was a fictional crime show based primarily on a preconceived storyline scripted in the self-published and commercially unsuccessful book Foreign Faction, written by Defendant James Kolar and self-published in 2012."
Another section maintains that "Defendants’ accusation that John covered-up that Burke killed JonBenét was not based on a complete investigation revealing truthful facts, new witnesses, new evidence or new theories. Instead, Defendants consciously built their Documentary on an illegitimate and unfounded investigation, false and omitted facts, old witnesses, old evidence and old theories."
Regarding damages, the suit "respectfully requests that this Court enter judgment, jointly and severally, against Defendants, awarding him compensatory damages in an amount not less than $100 Million ($100,000,000.00) and punitive damages to punish and deter Defendants in an amount not less than $250 Million ($250,000,000.00) and granting such other and further legal or equitable relief deemed appropriate."
In an October 2016 interview with Westword, Wood teased a future John Ramsey suit. "CBS is likely going to be on the other end of a lawsuit in the near future filed by John Ramsey," he told us. "Because the docuseries clearly accuses John Ramsey of a coverup of this false accusation related to Burke killing his sister. At least for the present time, the focus will be on the case filed by Burke. But at some point in the foreseeable future, John Ramsey will also file a lawsuit against CBS."
Why did nearly a year pass before such a filing? That's among the topics Wood addresses in the following Q&A.

Westword: Why did John Ramsey file suit even though a previous complaint had already been made by Burke Ramsey?
Lin Wood: The lawsuits previously filed on behalf of Burke Ramsey sought redress for the false and defamatory accusations made against him by defendants. Those lawsuits did not address the false and defamatory attacks made against John and the damages he has suffered as a result of the CBS documentary.
What are the central claims in the John Ramsey lawsuit?
The CBS documentary directly accuses John of a criminal coverup of the crime CBS asserts was committed by Burke. Elements of the claimed coverup include John lying to law enforcement, staging the crime scene and contributing to the death of JonBenét by being involved in her strangulation with a garrote.
Why was this move taken so many months after the original filing of the Burke Ramsey lawsuit?
There is no significance to be attached to the timing of the filing beyond the desire on John’s part that his son’s lawsuit be filed first. John’s complaint was filed well within the one-year limitation period applicable to defamation cases in Michigan.
Do the claims in the John Ramsey suit differ from those put forward in the Burke Ramsey lawsuit, and if so, how?
The claims made by John are consistent with, arise from and are clearly related to the accusations made by the CBS documentary against Burke — that Burke killed his sister, John knew that Burke had done so and John voluntarily engaged in a coverup of his son’s crime with Burke’s knowledge.
What are the damages incurred by John Ramsey that are claimed in his lawsuit?
The accusations against John constitute libel per se and therefore, the law presumes damages to his reputation. The monetary amount to be awarded for the damage to John’s reputation will be determined by the enlightened conscience of fair and impartial jurors. John’s complaint also seeks an award of punitive damages to punish CBS for its egregious wrongdoing and deter it from repeating such misconduct in the future against other individuals. Any determination of a punitive award will require a review by the juror of CBS’s revenues and net profits in recent years.

We are waiting for rulings from the trial court in both the Spitz lawsuit and the CBS lawsuit on defendants’ motions to dismiss. The motions have been fully briefed, and oral argument has taken place. I believe those motions will be denied based on clear legal precedent applicable to the facts of the cases, and when the motions are denied, full factual discovery in the case will commence as part of preparing the cases for trial.
Are these lawsuits intended as something of a warning shot against other news and entertainment organizations that may be thinking about producing similar programming in the future?
No — these lawsuits are primarily intended to recover monetary damages for the defamation committed by defendants. However, it is certainly my hope for the family that news and entertainment organizations will recognize that Burke and John will not allow publication of these false and defamatory accusations to occur without aggressively pursuing legal remedies. If a media organization carefully examines the facts, I do not think any sensible or credible news or entertainment organization will repeat these false and defamatory accusations against Burke and John in the future. Efforts by the media to profit from publishing false and sensational accusations against the Ramsey family should have ended many years ago.
Click to access the lawsuit, John Ramsey v. CBS, et. al., as well as the aforementioned document of exhibits in the case.

Michael Roberts has written for Westword since October 1990, serving stints as music editor and media columnist. He currently covers everything from breaking news and politics to sports and stories that defy categorization.
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Burke Ramsey, brother of JonBenét Ramsey, who was murdered in Boulder on Christmas Day 1996, has settled a lawsuit filed in December 2016 over the CBS docu-series The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey , which asserted that Burke killed his sister when he was nine and she was six.
The terms and amount of the settlement haven't been made public. But the original suit sought $750 million in damages.

Lin Wood, the Atlanta-based attorney for Burke and his father, John Ramsey, is limited in what he can say about the resolution of the case. But he tweeted: "After handling many defamation cases for them over the past twenty years, hopefully this is my last defamation case for this fine family."
Wood was much more forthcoming in October 2016, shortly after the filing of a separate $150 million complaint against Dr. Werner Spitz, a Michigan-based forensic pathologist who appeared on The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey. At the time, he was preparing Burke Ramsey's suit.
When asked why he had decided to sue over the CBS programs, particularly given the number of wild accusations that had been made against members of the Ramsey family over the past two decades, Wood replied (via email): "Since 1999 and 2000, when I successfully sued Star magazine, the New York Post and Court TV for falsely accusing Burke Ramsey of the death of JonBenét, no member of the mainstream media or even the tabloid media has dared to make that accusation against this young man again. He was officially and publicly cleared — being described as not being a suspect or a possible suspect by the Boulder Police Department in May of 1998 and the Boulder District Attorney's Office in May of 1999. And there has been no evidence developed in the case since then other than DNA evidence developed in 2008 that was used by then-district attorney Mary Lacy to exonerate the entire family. Burke had already been exonerated. So other than, as you say, wild accusations that have floated around in the Internet world over the last twenty years, no credible attack has ever been made against Burke Ramsey since the foolishness in 1999 and 2000."

Dr. Werner Spitz, left, watches as a child is called upon to act out a theory of how Burke Ramsey could have killed his sister, JonBenét, from the CBS program The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey.

CBS via YouTube
In the interim, author Jim Kolar penned a book called Foreign Faction that made similar assertions about Burke — but according to Wood, he hadn't targeted it for legal action because "it was self-published. It had no credibility. No mainstream publisher would touch it. I know for a fact that Jim Kolar approached a number of members of the mainstream media in New York seeking interviews to publicize the book, and they refused to interview him. They refused any attempt to give publicity or credibility to his book... . And that book is the cornerstone of the CBS docu-series. So while Jim Kolar was not worth a lawsuit a few years ago, because I did not feel he had any credibility and I did not want to give him the appearance of credibility that would publicize his book by filing a lawsuit against him, obviously things have changed now, because CBS used this book as part of its script for the docu-series."
The central theory espoused by the CBS program was that Burke had killed his sister with a blow to the head and his parents covered up the crime. But Wood rejected this supposition.
"I can't tell you in strong enough words: There is absolutely not one iota of physical evidence that links this young man to the murder of his sister," he said. "It's not even a matter of exonerating him. It shows that he is not even a legitimate suspect, as acknowledged by law enforcement authorities publicly in 1998 and 1999. So in order to accuse this young man, you've either got to intentionally misrepresent the evidence, intentionally ignore the evidence, or manufacture evidence to come up with the sensational, for-profit headline that Burke Ramsey was somehow involved in the murder of his sister."

Wood added: "I call it outrageous, but it's really hard to find the right word to adequately describe CBS and any other member of the responsible media who would make this type of accusation against this young man. For the past twenty years, since age nine, Burke Ramsey has lived with the burdens of his sister being murdered, his mother and father accused periodically in national media frenzies, and being investigated — his parents being investigated for the murder, and his mother dying. This young man has had a lot on his shoulders this past twenty years. And yet he has been able to successfully maintain his private life. He's a good, fine young man, a graduate of college, gainfully employed and trying to live as normal a life as he possibly can under these extraordinary circumstances. And for CBS to now add to that young man's burdens... . The fact is, he'll live the rest of his life knowing that people Googling him will see that he has been falsely been accused of murder, to see that he has been falsely portrayed as a killer since age nine. That will impact every business and social relationship this young man will ever engage in."
For Wood, this wasn't simply another case. "If you can't tell how pissed off I am, I am not apparently able to adequately express myself," he told us in that email interview two years ago. "I didn't fall off the truck yesterday. I've been around the block with some of the largest media companies in the country in significant libel cases. This one is, among those I've represented, the most egregious libel case I've ever seen. I can't imagine what a judge or a jury's reaction would be. I think I know. I think I got a taste of it in the earlier cases I filed on behalf of Burke. But those defendants had the good sense to promptly settle their cases with Burke and not repeat the foolishness, the unlawful accusations."
Other than confirming that a settlement had been reached, CBS and the producers of The Case Of have offered no further comment.
More than 22 years after the little girl was found dead in the basement of her home in Boulder, the murder of JonBenét Ramsey remains unsolved.

Michael Roberts has written for Westword since October 1990, serving stints as music editor and media columnist. He currently covers everything from breaking news and politics to sports and stories that defy categorization.